Leah's First Day of Kindergarden
by hangenfics
Summary: A story of Arnold and Helga's daughter on her first day of kindergarden (: Written by one of my partners (thoslittleghosts on tumblr!) who is working with me on this AU


It was Leah's first day in kindergarten, but the nervous ones were her parents. Arnold and Helga were still trying to figure out the best way to not mess things up. Helga's parents were not the best role models on how to raise a child and, even though Miles and Stella were great, they had not been around on Arnold's first 10 years. Leah was something new and exciting for them, but also terrifying. Would she be allergic to strawberries? Would she make new friends on her first day? Would she be calm? Would she make a mess? They were still trying to understand all of this while doing the best they could.

"Mommy, are you okay?"

"Oh yes, sweetie, why do you ask?"

"You're squeezing Daddy's hand too tight."

When Helga looked over and saw the face of pain in her husband, she realized that her daughter was right.

"Sorry, darling," she apologized, letting go of his hand.

"It's okay…" Arnold said, with a relieved smile. "I'm used to it by now."

Before they could say anything, a woman came to greet them.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Shortman, right?" The two nodded their head. "Nice to meet you, my name is Claudia and I will be your daughter's teacher."

Claudia hunkered down to get closer to the girl, who quickly grabbed the leg of her father. Arnold and Helga stared at each other, worried. Was she ready to deal with the new environment alone?

"You must be Leah." The girl nodded. "I know you're scared, but you have someone who's been waiting for you to show!"

Leah's face twitched in a confused expression. However, her parents knew exactly why they chose that particular kindergarten.

"Leah," Arnold said, catching her on his arms. "I know you're scared but we promise you that you won't be alone any minute, okay."

"Yeah," continued Helga, causing the two to look at her. "I mean, it's not like we're leaving you here and never coming back." She said in a mocking tone, tickling the girl's belly, who laughed.

Arnold glared at her, but Helga just mouthed a soundless "What? She's laughing!"

"And…" He spoke "We're going to be outside today to see if you adjust to the kindergarten."

Leah's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yup, but only for today!" Helga stated. "So don't get used to it. You have to learn to meet new people, Leah. I'm sure they will love your sweet way to be. Now, you will get out of daddy's arms and follow the teacher, deal?" She reached her pinkie to Leah, who grabbed it confidently.

"Deal!"

Leah had barely entered the room when she received a hug from…

"Akira?" she hugged him back tightly "You're here too!"

"Of course I am! Let me introduce you to my other friends." He grabbed her hand, pushing her through the room.

"O-other f-friends?" She stuttered. The little one felt like something just stabbed her chest. What would they be like? Leah had no other friends and wasn't even sure if Akira's friends would like her. Maybe they would simply hate the way she organized the colorful blocks or looked at the sky frequently looking for shapes in the clouds. She was already beginning to regret having gone to the kindergarten.

"Hi, guys!" said Akira. "This is Leah and she's new here!"

Everyone in the little circle looked at her. The two ginger boys who smiled at Leah had very warm brown eyes and somehow looked exactly the same; the girl, whose dark hair was very messy, lifted one side of her eyebrows. She was quite big, actually. With her move, Leah squeezed Akira's hand, making him look at her.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. I just d-don't want to interrupt anything and-"

"Oh, you are not!" one of the ginger boys spoke "We were just discussing what to do. By the way, I am John, the one who looks exactly like me is James and the grumpy one is Emma."

"I am not grumpy, you jerk!" the girl crossed her arms and showed her tongue at him, who showed his back. Leah laughed, reminding of her own parents.

"Hey, Leah." James, the other boy, called her attention "Do you want to play Kingdom?"

She furrowed her eyebrows "How does it work?"

"Well," Akira started. "There's one king that has to offer his daughter on marriage but there're two princes who like her, so they fight for her heart. Only that one of the princes really loves the princess for who she is, the other one just wants power."

"Oh, can I be the good prince?" Leah said, excited.

"Sure." James responded then pointing at Akira ."He normally is the princess anyways."

Akira just shrugged "What can I say? My heart is not easy to win and I am the most handsome here."

"C'mon, guys! We don't have all day, let's start this!" screamed Emma, making John get up from the ground.

From outside the room, Arnold and Helga watched as Leah did a braid on Emma's hair with her own rubber band while the boys got the plastic swords, capes and the crowns.

Arnold was just astonished. She had adapted just well, as he thought it would be. "That's my girl." He whispered, grinning from ear to ear.

"She's just like you, Football Head." Helga responded, smiling as well.

Her husband looked at her extremely confused. "What do you mean?"

"C'mon, Arnold, look at her!" She pointed with her thumb at Leah, who now was helping John with his cape, even though she didn't have one herself. "She's kind, sweet, smiley, empathetic, friendly, caring and I swear to God that she does not has an inch of evil in her little body!"

Before Arnold could even think in a response, they heard a scream from the middle of the classroom.

"Don't worry, my beloved prince! I will win your valiant heart no matter the cost and not even this red-haired disgusting person can stop me!" It was Leah.

The couple looked at each other, wide-eyed and burst out laughing at the situation. Helga had bent-over, putting her hand on Arnold's shoulder to support her weight as Arnold placed a hand on his stomach that was starting to ache at this point.

"You know, Helga," Arnold managed to say between the laughs. "I think you're wrong."

His wife lifted up slowly to look in his eyes "Uh?"

"She's not like me. She is… her own person. Probably that makes it even scarier, but also more interesting, after all. There is so much we know about Leah, yet we know basically nothing. And that means we will have to discover what we can in the way. Am I making any sense?" He beamed, nervously, putting his hand behind his head.

"Unfortunately, you are." Helga placed her head on his shoulder. "Maybe, just maybe, the fact that we can't predict her means we are doing something right."

He embraced her with his arm over her shoulder and glanced at Leah's smile "I think we are."


End file.
